Organic electroluminescent elements (which may hereinafter also be referred to as “elements” or “organic EL elements”) are light emitting elements which have organic layers between a pair of electrodes, and utilize, for light emitting, energy of the exciton generated as a result of recombination of electrons injected from a cathode and holes injected from an anode in the organic layer. Since the organic electroluminescent elements are capable of high-luminance light emitting at a low voltage, have a high response speed, and are relatively thin and light-weight, it is expected that the element can be employed in a wide range of applications, and the elements have been actively researched and developed. Above all, it is important to develop an organic electroluminescent element having high luminous efficiency and good durability in applications with displays, and the like, and the results of studies on various research and development have been reported.
For example, PTL 1 describes that it is possible to attain a longer service life in the blue region of an element, using a material in which a ring is formed with a single bond and a methylene chain with respect to a fused ring structure such as pyrene as a fluorescent material. This literature exemplifies several compounds in which 2-aryl pyrene is fused with a pyrene skeleton via a methylene chain are exemplified, but only the evaluation of 1-aryl pyrene has been conducted in Examples.
PTL 2 describes that a compound in which 2-aryl pyrene is fused with a pyrene skeleton via a methylene chain or a nitrogen atom linking group can be used as a material for a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, or an electron transporting layer of an organic electroluminescent element, or the like, and it is thus possible to achieve higher efficiency and a longer service life.
In addition, PTL 3 describes examples of a compound in which the 1-position and the 2-position of pyrene are fused, and further describes that when the compound is used as alight emitting material, a host compound, or the like of an organic electroluminescent element, the durability during storage and driving is excellent and the characteristics of high efficiency, low voltage, and high luminance are exhibited.